7 Of The Best: Acid House Classics

As chosen by Richy Ahmed...

Acid House was uncovered by accident, so the story goes.

Utilising squelching bass-lines caused by overloading the Roland 303, it came to launch nothing less than a total revolution of the way British youth spent their weekend.

The impact of the style can still be felt. It's there in the current boom of crossover hits, with Route 94, Waze & Odyssey, MK and more all saluting the heritage of those epochal Chicago house artists.

Richy Ahmed pays his respects in a more subtle way. A British DJ, his commitment to house music through good times and bad has earned him widespread respect far beyond the scene which catapulted him to fame.

New EP 'Sneaky Acid' – out now via Hot Creations – finds Richy saluting his roots. A solid rave up from start to finish, the album is built for dancefloor use – whether that's 1989 or 2014.

Utilising plenty of Acid House tropes, 'Sneaky Acid' is a fun, direction exploration of what can happen when two eras collide.

With that in mind, Clash asked Richy Ahmed to name 7 Of The Best tracks from the Acid House era.

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1. Abe Duque – 'Acid'
It’s not like an old school 90s acid track, it’s quite modern – maybe about eight or nine years old – but it’s so cool and throbbing, the vocal’s amazing. It’s a modern classic; I still play it in some of my sets. There was 'Acid' and 'Disco Lights' on the same EP and it was probably my favourite EP of the whole year. Abe Duque’s an absolute legend.

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2. Pierre’s Phantasy Club – 'Fantasy Girl'
I love this track. It’s got a faux vocal going on over the acid beat. It’s quite poppy, I remember the radio playing it in Chicago at the time. The vocal’s really quirky, the guy’s talking about being in a fantasy, I think, in a strip club, and because it’s got a faux vocal on the acid line isn’t opened right up so it sounds nice and throbbing and deep. It’s cool!

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3. Josh Wink – 'Higher State Of Consciousness'
This track reminds me of every festival I went to when I was younger. As soon as that got dropped everyone goes crazy, it’s got to be one of my favourite of all time. And you can’t talk about acid without talking about Josh Wink, I think.

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4. Adonis – 'Too Far Gone'
Amazing bass line; a throbbing bouncy acid bass line and a wicked vocal, probably one of the best vocals I’ve heard on an acid track.

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5. Da Posse – 'In The Heat Of The Night (Acid Mix)'
This is one of my favourite house tracks of all time – the vocal’s wiggin' and I'd play it at any time. They do an Acid mix and that just takes it to the next level.

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6. Maurice Joshua – 'This Is Acid'
I’ve got an edit of this that I still play now, and it still goes off, you drop that in a club and because it’s nice rave style old-school acid it just goes crazy every time.

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7. Bam Bam – 'Where’s Your Child'
I like this one because it’s quite slow paced. It’s got a slow paced acid bass line and really pitched down, weird vocals and the whole concept of it is weird as fuck, but I like that, it’s quality.

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Plus a bonus track…

Charles B – 'Lack Of Love'
It’s got a squelchy 303 acid bass line in it, and the vocals are raw: they’re not affected it’s just a straight vocal and it sounds really cool, it always works on the dancefloor.

– – –

Richy Ahmed's 'Sneaky Acid' is out now on Hot Creations.

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